


Built to Spill

by Demenior



Category: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, Beyblade
Genre: Drabble Collection, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, and many queer characters, may have some romance but p strictly gen, re: character tags, will feature non-cis characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-24 19:37:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4932655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demenior/pseuds/Demenior
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Collection of short pieces focusing on s1-3. Taking a look at the relationships between different people, between people and their experiences, and a look at a world in which sacred spirits exist and are in the hands of teenagers. Mostly canon compliant, but not strictly so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Scars

**Author's Note:**

> (Cross-posted on ff.net as well, under the same name)
> 
> I haven't written anything for beyblade in years, but I missed these kids a lot. Watching the new subs hasn't really helped in letting them go.
> 
> I use (as close to) original names as I can, so I recommend doing a quick google search if you're only familiar with the dub names.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is set sometime during The Big Sleepover (aka VForce), because I wanted someone to bring up the scars Rei must have from his battle with Boris in s1, and also bc I love domestic moments that lead to bonding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Hiromi and Rei, with mentions of Takao and Kyouju (Manabu).
> 
> Warning: There's a reference to cutting (self-mutilation), but only as a question and there's mentions of some blood in this one, as Rei accidentally cuts his hand with a knife, in case that makes you feel queasy or yucky.

It was hot in the kitchen and so Rei had dressed down to just his black tank and pants, which meant Hiromi could see the large scars on both his shoulders. She'd been curious about them, but hadn't found a good time to ask since Rei seemed to try to keep them hidden most of the time.

Hiromi was helping Rei in the kitchen, as the two of them were the most competent of the entire team—despite what Takao keeps claiming about her cooking. Rei was cutting vegetables, while Hiromi stirred the soup on the stove.

She heard the clunk of the knife hitting the cutting board, and Rei let out a sharp hiss of pain.

"Are you okay?" she asked, turning around.

Rei looked up at her almost sheepishly, and he was cradling his hand away from the vegetables. There was blood seeping between his fingers.

"Oh!" Hiromi gasped.

"I slipped," Rei admitted, "do you know where Takao keeps the bandages?"

Hiromi was unable to move—she hadn't seen this much blood before—and she was frozen in place as she watched a fat bead of Rei's blood drip off of his cupped hand and splash onto the floor.

"Hiromi?" Rei asked, "are you okay?"

"Sorry!" she shouted, "I think—" she dove into a cupboard she'd seen Takao go into multiple times for band aids, "here!"

"Is there gauze?" Rei asked her, "I just need to soak the blood up first—actually I'll wash some off. Do you mind moving the dishes out of the sink?"

She nearly dropped the box of bandages in her lunge for the sink. How was Rei so calm?

He shook out the hand he'd had cupped under his injured hand, and she could heard the heavy splash of blood as it hit the sink. Her stomach dropped. Rei ran his cut hand under the water for a few minutes without flinching, and then accepted the gauze and put pressure on it.

"I think the vegetables are still okay," Rei told her while she was wrapping a bandage over his hand and the gauze, "I didn't bleed on them, but we should rewash them just in case."

Hiromi could only stare at him. He'd cut his finger deeply, almost to the bone, and there was still blood on the floor, and on the counter by the sink and a little splatter on the cabinet doors. And he was worried about the vegetables?

"Hiromi?" Rei caught her gaze, "are you okay? You're not scared of blood, are you?"

Hiromi shook her head, "No, I… how are you so calm? You didn't even flinch!"

Rei seemed confused about her words for a moment, and then he laughed, "I, uh, you could say I've been through worse. I've got a high pain tolerance, and blood doesn't really freak me out anymore."

Hiromi's eyes moved to the large scars on Rei's upper arms. This close she realized that they weren't just one large mark, but were made up of many smaller lacerations, and that his arms were covered in them. There were just more in certain areas that gave the illusion that Rei was only scarred in specific areas. There was no way they were accidental, the cuts were too fine.

"Those aren't medical," Hiromi said, gesturing at the cuts up Rei's arms, "like… a doctor didn't make those, right?"

"No," Rei agreed, "they aren't from a doctor."

He moved away from her to grab some paper towel to clean up the blood splatter. Hiromi knew when she was being brushed off, and she resisted the urge to pry. Maybe she could ask Takao or Manabu about it.

"Do you need to see a doctor?" She was curious why Rei was being so secretive. She'd seen the boys comparing scars before, and boasting about the dangerous, and often stupid, things they'd done to receive them. Maybe Rei was ashamed of these scars?

"No, I think I'll be okay, but I'll keep an eye on it. I'm not a big fan of doctors," Rei shrugged.

"Are your scars… self-inflicted?" Hiromi blurted out before she could stop herself.

Rei looked startled for a moment, and then gave her a wry grin, "Well, I suppose they are, but not in the way you're thinking."

"I don't understand," Hiromi said before she could apologize for talking without thinking. She was just as bad as Takao sometimes, not that she'd ever admit it.

"There was… I had a choice, and I could have walked away," Rei continued cleaning up blood, "but I didn't. And I'm proud of that. I'm stronger for it now, but… it's not a happy memory. I don't really want to talk about it."

"Okay," Hiromi nodded, "I'm sorry, I was… I was really curious. I shouldn't have pried."

"Thank you," Rei smiled.

Hiromi washed the vegetables—Rei hadn't bled on any of them—while Rei finished cleaning. She took over doing the prep work under Rei's guidance, while he took over stirring the soup and other duties he would do with only one hand.

"There's videos," Rei surprised her by talking, "Kyouju probably has some recordings. If you wanted to see."

Hiromi glanced at the scars on Rei's arms again, "Videos of you getting hurt? I don't… I don't think I want to see that."

Rei nodded approvingly, "I'm glad you asked me first, but I don't mind if you wanted to talk to the others about it. I just... I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"Okay," Hiromi agreed. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to know now, if it meant hearing about Rei being badly hurt. Curiosity still pulled at her, but she felt content for now. There was a weird mood between them that felt too heavy for Hiromi's liking. She didn't like the furrow in Rei's brow that meant he was probably remembering what had happened to him, so she tried to think of something that would make him laugh.

"I got this one," Hiromi pulled back her hair to show a bright pink scar just above her ear, "when I tried to curl my hair. My hair came right off! Burned hair smells awful."

Rei broke into a loud laugh, "I thought girls were supposed to be good at hair stuff?"

"It was my first try," Hiromi pleaded, "I'm sure you've done something dumb with your hair."

Rei looked a little embarrassed when he admitted, "Once while I was travelling I was sleeping too close to a campfire and I burned my hair too. It was actually on fire and I had to jump into a river to put it out."

"Oh no!" Hiromi laughed, "that's terrible! That's worse than mine!"

They continued trading embarrassing mishaps and laughing as they finished making lunch.


	2. Devotion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is set the night before Kai faces Brooklyn again in the BEGA tournament. I was wondering why they still let Kai compete even though he'd just been released from the hospital (so they all thought. We all know Kai is useless at caring for himself and just... wandered the city... instead of getting medical attention) and I've always thought Kai's development from s1 where he punched and kidnapped and threatened people from BBA, to s3 where he dies for them, was something really touching, and I wanted to hint at that kind of devotion and how the BBA team didn't really know how far Kai was willing to go for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone reading this follows me on tumblr you've seen this one already.
> 
> Characters: Rick, Kai, Mao, Max, Takao, Emily, and Rei
> 
> Warnings: mentions of Kai's injuries from his first match with Brooklyn, so like, stitches and bruises. Otherwise this should be a pretty clean chapter.

Rick turned to face Kai, eyeing his tattered clothing and all of the stitches and bruising on his body, "Not to rain on your parade, because you're the only other person who mastered the metal gear system, but I feel like I'm pointing out the obvious in asking if you're really our best choice for tomorrow's match."

The former Bladebreakers all turned on Rick to defend Kai, but Rick held up his hands in a pleading gesture.

"Hey I mean no offense, but Kai literally just got out of the hospital," Rick explained, "from battling one of the guys that's still left on the team to face. I feel like we want someone who's in their best form if we actually want to win—which let me remind you we  _have_  to."

"Yeah," Max said, "I get your point, but Kai is the only one who can control a metal gear system. He's the only choice we've got."

"Not exactly," Mao butted in, leaning over Rick's lap to join the conversation, "Kai at his best is a sure deal, but maybe we'd be better off sending in someone healthy—even without the metal gear system."

"We could but… you saw how strong these guys are Mao," Rei said softly, "I think we're still putting our best foot forwards with Kai."

"My health won't be a problem," Kai said.

"Look I get that you're tough, but these fights are taking everyone to their limits. If your injuries hold you back, I don't know if I'll be able to forgive you for losing it for all of us," Rick said.

"Rick," Max chided.

Mao shrugged, "I agree with him—though in nicer words. Kai these matches are really intense. What if you get put back in the hospital? Or worse?"

Kai shook his head, "It won't be a problem."

"We need a win, Kai," Rick said, "at all costs. If you're willing to do that, then I can support you."

"Okay but don't kill yourself," Mao amended, eyeing Rick warily, "as long as you believe you can win, we're with you one hundred percent."

"I believe in you!" Takao added.

"And you really think you can win, hey?" Emily leaned in over Mao's shoulder, "what makes you think you can do what no one else has?"

Kai glanced at his team mates, "Because they need me to."


	3. Ka Anor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write this because I love the idea that Beyblade is made of a global cast, and I like the idea even more that not all of them speak Japanese and have some struggles with communicating. That’s how this started at least, and then it veered off suddenly into Yuriy being creepy and a little bit of sacred spirit lore and some s1 feels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Setting: This is set in s3, near the beginning of the World Tournament.
> 
> Characters: Yuriy, Max and Kai. Mentions of the former BBA.
> 
> Warnings: None, though there are mentions of brainwashing in the following bg info, as well as all of the emotional (and physical) abuse implied in anything to do with Borg. Max says a mild swear at the end of the chapter.
> 
>  
> 
> NOTES:
> 
> 1\. All of these chapters exist in a slightly au world where I re-envisioned Beyblade to make a little more sense. As such, some plot points changed. I’ll try to be sure to sum up anything relevant to a chapter I’m posting, without making it into another story altogether… this is still going to be really long and I’m sorry.
> 
> 2\. All of the Borg children were raised to be soldiers/assassins and also heavily brainwashed. Think Marvel’s Winter Soldier combined with the Black Widow program. It’s not really relevant to this chapter, but in this au all of the Borg kids + Kai are designated-female-at-birth. They present as male mostly because it’s convenient, and everyone around for s1 knows this about them but it’s hardly relevant.
> 
> 3\. For obvious reasons everyone is a little nervous to be around trained killers. Since s1 the Borg kids went through intensive therapy to remove trigger words and break most of the brainwashing, which is why they weren’t present for s2. Judy was involved bc… science, and she’s a scientist and… okay I just wanted Judy involved bc I didn’t want to make up more characters, and I thought I’d use Beyblade logic that if you call it science then it’s interchangeable.
> 
> 4\. Because of Kai’s amnesia he consciously forgot all of this brainwashing/training and without anyone there to trigger it he was just a normal kid. Until he accidentally and unconsciously chose the BBA (because of friendship!!!) as his Handlers, which meant his brainwashing training would kick in and he’d do anything to save them.
> 
> 5\. Kai did some scary, violent things to protect the BBA before they figured out what was going on re: brainwashing. In this story Yuri calls it ‘Kai’s weakness [for the BBA]’, since Kai ‘chose’ his Handlers based off of emotions, which Borg considers weakness. Max gets mad about this because Yuriy is implying that Kai is still essentially the BBA’s slave and that’s why he still associates with them.
> 
> 6\. This is so long for just a short story oh my god I’m so sorry
> 
> 7\. I’m making a guestimate that Max and Rei quit the BBA like two weeks before the tournament started. This is probably grossly untrue, as it’s probably like a month, but I needed it to be short enough that Max might still be reasonably feeling jetlag.
> 
> 8\. Yuriy’s reference to being a pet dog is because Yuriy thinks of himself and all the Borg children as not-human, and more as trained, dangerous creatures. He often likens them to wolves and calls normal humans sheep. It’s a very extended metaphor that doesn’t make a lot of sense until I actually write it into context, sorry.
> 
> 9\. In gendering the sacred spirits: all of the sacred spirits are normally referred to as male, including Suzaku. Kai, as the rest of the Borg kids do, use female pronouns to indicate something or someone is very dangerous and should not be trusted, since that’s essentially what they think about themselves. The BBA, unless prompted by Kai, normally refer to Kuro Suzaku as male.
> 
> 10\. I’m sorry you had to read through all of this. Just find me on tumblr if you have questions (name’s the same)
> 
> 11\. Ka Anor is a blatant rip-off of the 90s-tastic Everworld books, in which Ka Anor is a god who eats other gods. Go read the series, it’s incredible. The name got linked to Beyblade after I had a dream in which Kuro Suzaku was called Ka Anor.
> 
> 12\. Edit: Now that I’ve posted it, I realize that the original actually does use a gender-neutral ‘it’ for sacred spirits and it’s thanks to the dub that I thought all the spirits were gendered. Forgive the mistake.
> 
> Thank you for reading!

The hotel had a small courtyard with a gazebo, and it looked like a good spot to go think. Max hadn’t been able to sleep, and he figured that some fresh air wouldn’t hurt, and this way he could get away from Rick’s snoring. Apparently he wasn’t the only one still awake. He didn’t spot Yuriy until he was too close to turn away without making it obvious he was avoiding him.

“Hey,” Max said in English, out of reflex. He pulled a hand out of his pocket to give a little wave, “couldn’t sleep either?”

Yuriy was leaning on the banister to the gazebo, and had been watching the stars. He was still wearing his oversized jacket despite the fact that the temperature was nice enough that Max hadn’t even thought to put on a sweater.

Yuriy barely glanced down at Max before looking back up to the stars. He didn’t say anything and Max wondered if Yuriy had similar behaviors to Kai, and the lack of response meant that he wanted to be alone. Going off of what he knew of Kai: if Yuriy wanted to be alone then he’d leave, Max tried to think of something else to say. If Yuriy didn’t respond then, in Kai-talk, that meant Max wasn’t intruding on anything, but should stick to himself. Max wondered briefly if he should have spoken in Japanese—he couldn’t remember how good Yuriy’s English was—but decided Yuriy would respond in whichever language he felt most comfortable in.

Yuriy replied, in English, before Max could speak, “The time difference is very annoying.”

Yuriy’s voice was soft, and Max had to focus to make sure he understood all of the words. Yuriy’s accent made it a little difficult to understand what he was saying, but it was just nice to be talking in English. He didn’t chat much with the PPB, compared to how talkative the BBA had been. It was easy talking with his old team since the BBA all used Japanese with one another, even though Max often muddled his phrasing and had been told he has a very distinct way of speaking Japanese. But it was always refreshing to be able to have a conversation in English where he was a little surer of himself and his sentence structure.

“Oh,” Max realized, “you’re, what, like five hours ahead? It’s already morning for you, isn’t it?”

“Seven hours,” Yuri corrected.

Max took that as an invitation and stepped into the gazebo. He’d never really spoken with Yuriy, save for the times he’d yelled at him like when Borg ambushed them and stole Genbu. Since then, even though his mother had been working to rehabilitate the Borg children, Max hadn’t had much interest in spending any time with them. Now that Kai had joined their team, though, Max figured he could make an effort.

“That might be why I’m still up,” Max admitted, “I mean, I only left Japan like two weeks ago, you know?”

He took a spot beside Yuriy, close enough to be companionable, but he kept his distance. The moon was bright, and only a few bright stars could be seen through the city lights around them. It was as peaceful as a New York night could get.

Yuriy’s lack of response didn’t unsettle Max as much as it might have someone else. He was pretty used to the way Kai ignored most of what was said to him, and Yuriy didn’t seem to be all that different.

One big difference, Max reminded himself, was that he didn’t trust Yuriy like he trusted Kai.

That thought had him worried. He knew that the Neoborg team were using the same sacred spirits that Volkov had created. The same spirits they had used to steal away sacred spirits from other beybladers, including himself. His mom said they weren’t going to hurt anyone, but she wasn’t aware of sacred spirits like Max was.  

Max didn’t want to appear like he was on the attack—another lesson from dealing with Kai—so he tried for a more subtle approach.

“What is it like fighting with an artificial sacred spirit?” he asked. It wasn’t entirely unfounded, Max was genuinely curious. Takao was the only one amongst them who’d fought using different sacred spirits—except for Kai, but he wasn’t willing to talk about his experience, for obvious reasons—and Takao had said that he’d felt the difference between Seiryu and Suzaku’s energies, and how they connected to him. He hadn’t been able to describe it much beyond that, claiming it was something you needed to experience to understand, but it had left Max curious about the nature of sacred spirits yet again.  

Yuriy didn’t respond, but Max noticed his hands tighten on the railing, which meant he was listening.

“Genbu feels like someone I’ve known for a very long time, like family,” Max offered, “and I’m really happy every time we fight together. But he also feels like a wave, like a really big wave, or a current, and I have to make sure I don’t get swept away with it, but I also have to let it flow through me—like, I have to be me, but also let Genbu work through me, right? Is Wolborg like that?”

Yuriy huffed a breath out through his nose, and Max waited for a response.

“Wolborg is nothing like your holy spirits,” Yuriy finally said.

Max liked the way his ‘W’ melted into a ‘V’ sound. It almost made the words seem soft, even if what Yuriy was saying was intimidating.

“What do you mean? He’s a real spirit, even if he was made, well, unconventionally,” Max replied. He was thankful Yuriy didn’t point out how badly he mispronounced his English ‘R’. He’d been speaking Japanese for the better part of the last two years and his mouth was slow on remembering the right way to make certain sounds.

“Wolborg was made with one purpose,” Yuriy explained, rolling his neck to face Max, though he didn’t make eye contact, “ _they_ were created to steal and devour true holy spirits. Wolborg still remembers the taste of Genbu, and they crave it.”

Max took into account the subtle reminder that there was a middle ground for gendering in English. He’d forgotten that ‘they’ could also be singular just like he or she. He resisted the urge to reach into his pocket and feel the comforting groves and edges of Draciel. Yuriy’s eyes followed the movement and Max felt a chill despite the warm night.

“But you’re not going to attack anyone, right?” Max asked, guarded, “you guys are good now?”

Yuriy scoffed, and finally looked back to the stars, “There is no such thing as good or evil. It is only a matter of where our intentions lay in contrast to our opponents. When we first battled we were… manipulated… and seeking a path in opposition to yours. Now, we are playing by the same rules. This is what you would consider as being good.”

Max took a step back, “Are you planning on taking our sacred spirits?”

“No,” Yuriy laughed bitterly, “I am through with being Ka Anor.”

“Ka… what? What does that mean?” Max didn’t let go of Draciel, though he felt that Yuriy was being truthful. He liked to imagine that he could feel Genbu’s presence, and it comforted him.

Yuriy looked down and drummed his fingernails on the bannister, as if he was having a strong internal debate.

“No,” he finally sighed, “you know so little about the power you have. I don’t want to ruin the night by talking of bad things. Ask Hiwatari about this. He will not be able to resist his… weakness for you.”

Both Max and Yuriy were well aware that Kai’s connection to the former BBA team was anything but weakness. Max didn’t like thinking about that.

“That’s not going to happen; Kai likes us because we’re friends. My mom helped Kai—and all of you—break that conditioning,” Max reminded Yuriy. He wasn’t sure why he felt like he was being put on the defensive now. In any case, like his battle style, defense was the best offence.

“Of course,” Yuriy practically purred, in a tone that didn’t settle Max’s wariness at all, “we are all harmless as pet dogs now.”

“Yuriy,” Max said warningly. He was acutely aware now that Yuriy was between the entrance to the gazebo and himself, unless there was another entrance behind Max that he hadn’t noticed earlier. There wasn’t anywhere for him to run to, and Max knew very well that if Yuriy attacked him, he didn’t have much hope of fighting back.

Yuriy’s eyes were bright in the moonlight, but his face lost all humor and his tone was serious, “I will never forget what your mama did for us.”

They still weren’t making eye contact, though they were looking at one another. Max was done with the conversation now, and wanted to get away from the feeling that Yuriy was trapping him. The tone in Yuriy’s voice struck Max in that it almost sounded like a promise.

“I’ll ask Kai about that… that thing you said,” Max said.

Yuriy nodded, stepping back, and all of the tension drained from the air around them. He turned back to look at the stars.

Walking back on the path to the doors of the hotel meant that Max had to turn his back on Yuriy, and he felt suddenly that that might not be a good idea. While he didn’t feel that Yuriy was going to attack him now, or anytime soon after he’d talked about Max’s mom, he still decided to move as fast as he could without looking like he was running.

He was three steps away from the gazebo, all the while feeling the awful sensation of letting something dangerous sneak up behind you, when Yuriy called out to him.

“Goodnight Max!” his voice sounded downright gleeful, likely from the way Max jumped in surprise. At least Max hadn’t shouted.

Max took a breath to calm himself and turned around. Yuriy was watching him and grinning.

“Goodnight,” Max waved nervously, and resisted calling Yuriy an asshole. Maybe this was Yuriy’s way of being friendly? If it was, then Max was going to have a heart attack before the tournament was over.

 

Max didn’t get a chance to talk to Kai until a whole day after he’d talked to Yuriy.

He caught up with Kai in the lobby of the hotel while he was on his way to ravage the continental breakfast. Kai was just leaving.

“Where did you hear that?” Kai asked quickly, responding in English. Max was always surprised to hear Kai speak English, since the only other people from BBA who could was the Professor, and he was barely fluent at all, and Rei, who only knew enough to order food or find a bathroom. Kai normally had a hard Japanese accent when he spoke English, but Max was noticing that Kai was starting to sound a lot like the Neoborg team the longer he was with them. It was oddly charming.

Max shrugged and spun some hair around his finger. He was hoping to look innocent, though he should have known better. Kai waited, and Max knew Kai would walk away if Max didn’t answer.

He sighed, “I was talking to Yuriy.”

Kai narrowed his eyes, “You shouldn’t be anywhere near him.”

“He’s on _your_ team!” Max insisted, “besides, we were just being friendly. Just because we’re competing against one another doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

“He’s dangerous,” Kai reminded Max, “they all are. You’re not safe with them.”

Max bit back the obvious response of ‘then you’re not safe either!’ and decided to switch topics again, “What does Ka Anor mean?”

Kai frowned, and for a moment Max thought he might walk away because he was mad about Max apparently putting himself in danger just by talking to Yuriy. Not that Max necessarily disagreed, but the Neoborg were good now and Max believed in second chances.

Instead of walking away, Kai sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, “It means ‘God Eater’. Holy spirits that have the ability to absorb the powers of other holy spirits, and the people who command them, can be called Ka Anor. But there is only one true God Eater.”

Max shuddered, “And that’s Wolborg?” He accidentally pronounced the name like Yuriy did.

Kai snorted, “Wolborg?” Kai also used the ‘V’ sound, but Max wasn’t sure if he was making fun of him or Yuriy, or the both of them, “no, Wolborg is man-made in the image of the true Ka Anor.”

“But who is the real—?” Max stopped when Kai fixed him with a Look. This was something Kai didn’t want to verbalize.

“Oh,” Max realized, “Kuro Suzaku?”

Kai nodded, and when he spoke again it was in Japanese, “As you know, Holy Spirits often fought, or were used for fighting. Kuro Suzaku was the first to eat her enemies. Alive. And she absorbed their power and erased those Holy Spirits from existence. It… she was always starving. So hungry that she was in so much pain that she could barely think straight. It… it feeds back to the one who summons her. You can’t think of much else except ending the agony, but it never ends.”

Max started to reach out to put a hand on Kai, as a physical grounding touch, but he wasn’t sure if that was what Kai needed at the moment. Kai often reacted poorly to unwanted touches. This was something Kai had never shared with him before—Max was pretty sure Kai had never shared any of this with anyone before. He wanted to be sure Kai understood that Max was thankful to be trusted with this secret and that he recognized how hard it was for Kai to share this.

He pulled his hand back and studied Kai’s body language. For all that Kai tried to remain aloof; he was very easy to read when he’d opened himself up. Kai looked poised to run, and the tension in his shoulders hinted that he was also ready to fight if Max said the wrong thing. Or maybe it wasn’t Max that he wanted to fight at all.

“You still feel it; the hunger,” Max thought out loud, switching to Japanese easily with Kai, and his stomach dropped as he spoke, “you can still feel Kuro Suzaku calling to you.”

If he didn’t know Kai as well as he did, Max would have missed the tightening of Kai’s jaw that meant he was right. It was a testament to how much Kai respected him, of how much they’d been through, that Kai didn’t just walk away.

“Yes,” Kai finally admitted, “every day.”

“You never told us,” Max reached out now, because this had become a conversation that could allow him to touch. Max liked touch, he liked the connection it made without the need for words, “you’ve been suffering in silence. We’re your friends Kai, and we would help you, if you’d let us.”

Max could feel Kai’s muscles tensing under his hand, how Kai was still fighting the urge to flee, but Kai didn’t push him away.

Kai didn’t seem like he was going to speak, though Max waited a bit to give Kai room to talk if he wanted.

“You’re not alone,” Max reminded him, “you have all of us from the BBA team. We might not be a team anymore, but we’re still friends, Kai. All of us.”

Kai relaxed, marginally, under Max’s hands, and Max held his gaze when Kai looked at him, “You... you do help,” Kai said quietly, and he glanced away first, “I know that I am stronger than her.”

_I have my friends’ strength_ went unsaid, but Max smiled anyways.

“Did you want to go tour the city together, after the battles today?” Max asked, changing the topics again, “we could even invite Rei, and Takao, if he’s not being crabby.”

Kai quirked an eyebrow at Max, and smiled wryly, “We’re enemies, we can’t be seen fraternizing.”

“We’re friends!” Max insisted, though he knew Kai was joking with him, “besides, maybe we can make our teams get over their stupid rivalry.”

Both of them knew that would never happen, but Max wanted it to be clear that he was going to try and be friends with the Neoborg, and that Kai was welcome around his team. Even though they weren’t much of a team right now.

“Big dreams,” Kai admitted, and he shifted his weight to his back foot, in a sign that Max knew he was preparing to leave.

“I’ll see you around,” Max said, “and good luck!”

“A good beyblader doesn’t rely on luck,” Kai told him.

Max stuck his tongue out at Kai, as Kai turned and walked away. He was laughing to himself when he heard Kai call back to him.

“Good luck out there, Max, you’ll need it!”

Max cupped his hands over his mouth to shout after Kai, to the horror of the grandmothers having their morning tea nearby, “I’m gonna kick your ass in the dish!”


End file.
